Ace Team's Abyss Odyssey

[Bjorn]

Started this up tonight and played a bit.  It's the very definition of an Ace Team game; equal parts brilliance, WTF?, and frustration.  It's stylish, beautiful in its own way and has some interesting ideas on death.  I'm not sold on the fighting mechanics yet, but I'm going to level up a bit more and see if that continues helping.  It feels just on the sluggish side of what I want 2D combat to be.  But each power I gain is having a significant impact on fighting, so it may just be that I need to get up a few more levels to feel comfortable.

 

What it does with death is fucking cool though.  So there are soldiers wandering around in the Abyss along with you.  If you die, one of these friendly chaps always shows up just after the nick of time!  You take control of him, and if you can reach an alter, he can resurrect your body.  He's slower and weaker than you though, so the game definitely gets harder if you have to fall back on him.  But then you can shapeshift into enemies, either by absorbing their essence (which is fairly rare) or buying their essence from a merchant.  While shapeshifted, you have a new health pool.  When you die, you automatically change back to your original form.  It's an elegant way to handle "lives" in a game like this, instead of just giving you 3 lives to start.   Finally, there are checkpoints that you can pay soldiers to man, so that if you die, they will fetch your body and resurrect you there instead of you being sent all the way to the surface.  But the checkpoints are constantly under attack, and each time you die another soldier holding the point will be lost, until none remain, at which point its back to the surface again.  If you use them, a constant stream of soldiers are laying down their lives to pave the way for you to reach the end. 

 

Everything about the death mechanic feels so thoughtful, like it mattered that the cycle of starting a run, dying, and restarting make sense in a completely believable way inside the world. 

[twmac]

'Completed' this last night on my fourth attempt.

 

I discovered a massively over powered (32 damage) sword and the Peacock warrior is the best dude that I have absorbed so far.

 

Ran through and beat the Warlock with that combination.

 

I wrotet about it in the podcast thread but my mood about the clunkiness has definitely shifted and I am liking it way more than I did. Will probably try and playthrough it again later in the weekend.

 

Depsite the clunkiness this might be in my 'games of the year' selection.

[Bjorn]

I'll definitely stick with it then.  Did you use camp tokens to set up checkpoints, or did you make it straight through without that?  I was trying to figure out the best ways to spend my money last night, and it was looking like just saving it for tokens and to buy enemy essence was the best, at least for now. 

 

Oh, I forgot to mention last night, so in co-op the default mode is to have friendly fire turned on.  If you turn it off, your progress doesn't count towards the global count.  But good lord, I don't think we'd ever be able to get through the game with it turned on.  Just way to easy to accidently tag someone with a fireball even when you're trying to stay well away from one another.

[Twig]

I've gotten decently into this game.

 

It's starting to wear me down. It feels like some grade-A bullshit at times. I'm not sure if it's because it's actually bullshit or if it's because I just suck at fighting games. And make no mistake, I really suck at fighting games. I was optimistic at first because it has more in common with Smash Bros. than it does Street Fighter, in terms of straight mechanics, and I'm actually okay at Smash Bros. But... I'm not good at this. I find myself sometimes stuck in a corner while three dudes beat on me and I can't roll out because there's a bump in the way and there's always at least one of the three timing his attack perfectly to when I get up and then I just get knocked back down.

 

I definitely find myself wishing I could just always be Katrien and just have an extra life. Very few of the monsters feel like they're... worth playing as. But I have to, because otherwise I'll never make it to the Warlock!* Also I kind of wish that when I died, I'd just die. Playing as the soldiers is not fun, and I've literally gone four rooms in a row without finding an altar. It only happened once, but it was fucking frustrating. I know it's a roguelikelikelikliekekleie but c'mon.

 

I've beaten the warlock three times. Twice with Katrien and once with the Ghost Monk. I have unlocked Pincoya but not messed around with her, yet. I'm hoping she'll be more to my style than the Ghost Monk, whom I detest because he is so slow. I like Katrien's forward-air-into-standing-ground combo - it has served me well. I can't figure out a good Ghost Monk combo.

 

I ALSO don't like the camp tokens, because when you are revived you don't keep any of your equipment AND you have to fight your way back through all the rooms, so you're basically forcing yourself to play in a weakened state, instead of just accepting the loss. The only time I've actually made use of a camp token (because every other time I actually beat the Warlock!), I made it down to the Warlock but had the starting equipment and no monster and died. That's also the only time I've died to the Warlock!

 

*Although the first time I beat the Warlock I hadn't even figured out how to change into the captured monster, let alone actually capture one. The only monsters I'd picked up were from the special arena rooms where you're forced to play as one and kill four dudes.

 

EDIT: I might have more fun in co-op with someone who actually knows what they're doing, though. I don't know if co-op actually makes things tougher, though, so the "help" might make it even worse! I don't know. I DON'T KNOW.

 

I think all of my complaints above would not exist if I were good at fighting games. ):

[sclpls]

I have mixed feelings about this game. My main problem is that I don't feel like I'm doing much different depending on the enemies I am fighting. Other than that though I mostly like the mechanics involved. I want to try the co-op mode.

[Twig]

I then went and beat the Warlock three times in a row: twice with Ghost Monk, and once with Pincoya without having played her before.

 

The Peacock Warrior is indeed great, as twmac said. I also like the Skeleton Warrior, and the Jackal, though neither of them are as tanky as the Peacok Warrior.

[twmac]

Always use up and Y with the Peacock warrior, that double kick is devastating!

[Twig]

Yo I captured Verbum Dei and Paganini.

 

Paganini kinda sucks but Verbum Dei pukes a sword so he's rad. And he has five crowns. too bad he's so expensive and I can't afford him when I start fresh. I wish gold was a bit easier to get.

I tried playing nightmare mode.

 

It's a nightmare.

[twmac]

Damnit, I tried to capture Verbum Dei but for some reason it didn't work. I haven';t fought Paganini yet but I look forward to that.

 

I just started getting good witht he ghost monk - he is slow but he has some cheeky little juggle combos when an enemy is in the corner. you can hit them against the wall with a standard standing strike then crouch to launch them and then launch them again and then do a two hit combo and most enemies are dead after that.

 

Otherwise the crouching launcher is the best. Also, frames of invincibility on the rising grab move are essential or else you will never be able to use it effectively.

 

I am liking this game more and more.

[twmac]

Oh man, I just unlocked Pincoya.

[Bjorn]

Oh man, I just unlocked Pincoya.

 

Next time I play, I think I will prioritize trying to get her.

[Twig]

You have to be at least level 40 to capture Verbum Dei. I think 30 to capture Paginini? 70 to capture the Warlock!!

[Twig]

Jesus fucking Christ this game is fucking impossible on Nightmare difficulty. HEY LET'S THROW IN AN EXTRA ENEMY TO HELP THE WARLOCK AND THEN THEY JUST JUGGLE YOU UNTIL YOU'RE DEAD. FUCKING FUN.

 

Getting to him is hard but not too hard. Trying to beat him is making me want to give up on the game forever.

 

I also have yet to beat a single dream level on Nightmare. The enemies are way harder.

[Bjorn]

What happens if you fail a dream level?  Do you get booted back to the surface, or something else?

 

So after feeling like I was really struggling last week, I fired it up this afternoon and proceeded to stomp through everything and slaughter the Warlock like a boss.  I was using the death/skeleton guy, though I spent most of my time in various enemy forms.  I don't know if I got better, got lucky or was getting unlucky on my earlier runs.  I almost always had 3 or 4 health potions on me.  Always had an enemy summon to transform into. 

 

I had no idea that you get to keep your equipment and any left over potions when you restart after beating the Warlock.  That makes makes it way more worth it to burn whatever cash you have if you're on a good run and trying to save the gear you have.

 

If you change characters after beating the warlock, does your equipment stay on your old character until you use her/it again?  Or is that equipment lost as soon as you swap characters?

[Twig]

Nah you get to continue, but you get dropped to about 1/3 of your health on your currently selected character. So if you have a monster and are playing as the monster when you enter, you lose health on it. If you don't have a monster, obviously you lose health on your main dude/lady/whatever. It sucks to lose those even if you don't want the monster because if you WIN and you don't want it you still fully heal. So good.

 

Anyway, after I cried like a baby in my last post, I proceeded to stomp through on Nightmare mode and killed the Warlock!

 

I think I've decided two things: 1) Pincoya is my favorite Hero, and 2) THE MERCHANT IS SO GREAT OH MAN.

 

Fuck Verbum Dei! Fuck Paganini! Fuck the Peacock Warrior! Play as the Merchant and win.

 

Still curious as to how the Warlock plays, though.

 

Also, switching characters kills your saved items, I'm pretty sure.

[twmac]

Hmm, on the X360 version you lose everything when you beat the warlock... Weird.

 

Have now beat it about 5 times - the Ghost Monk is my favourite character. Have you fought the creature that attacks the surface randomly? That is a fun fight.

[twmac]

Another thing - the Wood Golem's rolling attack (down and Special) is utterly devastating. He might be my favourite character now, alongside the Peacock Warrior.

[Bjorn]

Hmm, on the X360 version you lose everything when you beat the warlock... Weird.

 

Have now beat it about 5 times - the Ghost Monk is my favourite character. Have you fought the creature that attacks the surface randomly? That is a fun fight.

 

Apparently the PC version was patched a few days after launch to add that.  I was looking up some stuff about the game and learned that yesterday.

[Bjorn]

Huh, I must be getting a bit better.  I unlocked naked lady, and beat the Warlock with her on the very first time out (went from level 1 to level 16).  I did have to have my soldier save my ass several times, thankfully 3 out of 4 times there was a shrine present on the stage where I died.

 

I think I still like the skeleton flasher the most though, his moves feel like they fit my play style better.  And Rock Golem is so far my favorite enemy summon, though I haven't got the Peacock warrior yet.

[twmac]

You have to check out the Wood Golem as a summon he seems to be the most over powered as you can knock people down then, while they are in the air, you can roll into them for about 5-6 hits.

 

You guys are definitely talking about features that are nto available on X360 and it is definitely making me a little envious.

 

Still, great game anyway.

[Twig]

Well consoles suck so that makes sense. :3 :3 :3

 

Anyway, Merchant > *

 

This is undeniable fact! I haven't played much since I beat it on Nightmare mode. I'm waiting for the next update, which Ace Team said they're working on. They didn't expect people to break the Warlock's mask so quickly, apparently!

 

NICE FIRST POST ON NEW PAGE

[Roderick]

Ace Ventura's Abyss Odyssey

[Erkki]

I am playing this, so far I like how it looks, and even as I thought I might enjoy the fact that the combat is slow-paced, it could be a bit faster to control. Is there really no way to save the progress of one run? I would play it more if I knew I could do it for 30 minutes and keep my progress.

[Twig]

Unfortunately, no. The only thing saved when you close the game are your current gold and your currently-unlocked characters and summons.